I’m not a hardcore preventing recreation participant. In truth, removed from it. I’ve put a whole lot of hours into Tremendous Smash Bros. however outdoors of that, the early Tekken and Soul Calibur video games are the place my historical past lies. I’ve undoubtedly dabbled with the likes of Road Fighter and Mortal Kombat, however these have been briefly spells with buddies and by no means for a protracted sufficient interval for me to get good.
Due to this, I’ve discovered it onerous to get excited by upcoming preventing titles. I’d simply by no means performed them sufficient and realistically, I’m simply not superb. That was till Capcom’s large reveal of Road Fighter 6 came about throughout PlayStation’s State of Play at Summer time Sport Fest.
The trailer showcased a formidable new artwork fashion, some new modes, returning favourites and, most significantly for me, “a brand new management mode to play with out the necessity to bear in mind troublesome command inputs.” Immediately, I discovered myself paying consideration.
Quick ahead a couple of days and I used to be fortunate sufficient to get hands-on with the sport at Summer time Sport Fest this yr and let me inform you, I can see myself getting hooked.
One of many first issues that turned obvious, in each the trailers and the hands-on time that I had, is simply how a lot fashion the sport oozes. The artwork path is gorgeous and every thing pops.
Throughout fight, Road Fighter 6’s vivid colors are accentuated by highly effective assaults that splash paint across the stage and the thought and element within the backgrounds of the 2 levels I obtained to struggle on are nice. All of this fashion extends previous the preventing too, with the menus, loading screens and character choose screens all wanting flashy.
The sport’s music additionally understands the task. Funky hip-hop beats litter the menus and extra understated tracks are there as you do battle.
As I stated, I don’t play many preventing video games and Road Fighter 2 was in all probability the final within the collection that I performed, so I don’t have a lot of a contemporary body of reference. That being stated, I can inform you Road Fighter 6 feels good.
…the characters really feel highly effective and the assaults virtually visceral.
I heard the time period “heavy” thrown round on a couple of event, however I don’t suppose that was a nasty factor. Having not performed an excessive amount of of the franchise earlier than, it made the characters really feel highly effective and the assaults virtually visceral. Each character had this “heavy” feeling, so it wasn’t that some have been deprived by it, however it’s simply one thing to get used to.
Talking of characters, I obtained to spend a good chunk of time with 4 of the 5 which have been confirmed to date – Ryu, Chun-Li, Luke and Jamie – and I loved all of them.
Naturally, I gravitated in the direction of the extra acquainted Ryu and Chun-Li at first, spending time going 1v1 with the pc (and getting my ass kicked a couple of times by a fellow attendee), nevertheless, after I “mastered” my play with these two, I moved on to Luke and Jamie.
Coming from a Smash Bros. background, I like my characters to really feel very totally different from one another and whereas they don’t fairly really feel as totally different as say, Pikachu and Hyperlink, all 4 of the characters I obtained to check out will certainly be suited to totally different playstyles.
Should you’re a Road Fighter veteran, this can come as no shock to you however Ryu hit the toughest, Chun-Li was speedy, as was Jamie and Luke was a strong all-rounder.
At this early level, I’m in all probability a Chun-Li principal, however I think about the roster nonetheless has fairly a little bit of rising to do earlier than its 2023 launch after which much more after that.
As I beforehand talked about, my greatest gripe with preventing video games is that they’re simply as a lot as a check of your skill to memorise lengthy button combos as they’re being expert on the recreation. Road Fighter 6’s new “trendy” management scheme undoubtedly rectifies this and makes the entire expertise far more approachable for novice gamers.
…the entire expertise is far more approachable for novice gamers.
The fashionable management scheme is way more akin to that of Nintendo’s brawler, and that’s why this demo vibed with me a lot.
Very like Smash Bros, you’ve got your commonplace assaults, nevertheless, the particular assaults at the moment are mapped to a single button. This implies, moderately than having to recollect the button mixture required to drag off a particular assault, you simply press the particular button, accompanied by a path on the stick. This made issues method simpler to know.
In fact, this does restrict gamers utilizing the fashionable management scheme to solely utilizing a handful of specials, however it’s a handful greater than somebody like me would normally be capable of pull off, so I rely it as a win.
It additionally implies that these gamers who use the unique management scheme and take the time to recollect the combos will nonetheless have the benefit over these of us utilizing the fashionable management scheme as they’ve an even bigger movepool at their disposal.
Though it wasn’t obtainable to preview throughout Summer time Sport Fest, I feel the model new World Tour mode goes to assist draw individuals like myself into Road Fighter 6.
Having a neater management scheme is nice, having a mode that gives me the prospect to get caught in and do extra than simply preventing. Giving the sport an “immersive single-player story mode” that “defies style labels” actually excites me.
Total, my time with Road Fighter 6, the footage that has been proven and the promise of what’s to come back has me genuinely believing that this might be the primary “correct” preventing recreation that I get into.
There’s nonetheless a protracted option to go till the sport releases subsequent yr, however the early indicators are actually actually promising. The truth that Capcom is so prepared to point out the sport off this early means they’re clearly assured with how the product is shaping up.
